Artificial eyelash applicator

ABSTRACT

An artificial eyelash applicator is disclosed. An artificial eyelash applicator according to an embodiment of the present invention may comprise: a support plate for attaching an artificial eyelash, which comprises a plurality of eyelash strands and a joining portion that interconnects one-side ends of the eyelash strands, to an eyelid, the support plate being provided to support the artificial eyelash strands; and a holding pin provided to push and hold the artificial eyelash strands against the support plate in the longitudinal direction of the joining portion, the holding pin being provided such that, as the support plate is elastically deformed, holding of the artificial eyelash strands is released.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an artificial eyelash applicator.

BACKGROUND ART

In general, artificial eyelashes mean a beauty device which makes eyelash strands look thicker or longer when it is attached to original eyelashes.

The artificial eyelashes have a form of eyelashes, including a plurality of eyelash strands and a joining portion connecting one-side ends of the plurality of eyelash strands.

The artificial eyelashes are attached around an eye by adhering the joining portion to an eyelid via an adhesive.

In order to attach the artificial eyelashes around an eye, a method of placing and adhering the joining portion to which an adhesive is applied onto an eyelid while grasping one side of the eyelash strands with a device such as tweezers or fingers is generally used.

However, when only one side of the artificial eyelashes is grasped with the tweezers, the ends of which are pointed, artificial eyelashes adjacent to opposite sides of the artificial eyelashes grasped with the tweezers may sag, thereby making it difficult to adhere the joining portion to the eyelid.

In order to solve this problem, Korean Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-2014-0114739, filed and published by the applicant of the present application, discloses a structure of an artificial eyelash applicator.

The disclosed artificial eyelash applicator is provided in a thin plate shape to support all artificial eyelash strands which are stretched out.

Thus, when artificial eyelashes are attached using the artificial eyelash applicator, the artificial eyelash strands are adhered to the artificial eyelash applicator in a state in which an adhesive having lower adhesive strength than that of an adhesive applied to the joining portion is applied to the artificial eyelash strands. In this state, when the artificial eyelash applicator is moved around an eye to adhere the joining portion onto an eyelid of the eye, the joining portion to which the adhesive having higher adhesive strength is applied is attached to the eyelid. Furthermore, when the artificial eyelash applicator is pulled from the eye in a forward direction in this state, the artificial eyelash strands to which the adhesive having lower adhesive strength than that of the adhesive applied to the joining portion is applied are separated from the artificial eyelash applicator, thereby completing wearing of the artificial eyelashes.

However, when the artificial eyelash applicator according to the related art described above is used, adhesives having different adhesive strengths should be applied onto the artificial eyelash strands and the joining portion, thereby causing a user's inconvenience. Thus, it is difficult to hold the artificial eyelashes onto the artificial eyelash applicator such that the artificial eyelashes are available.

Furthermore, an adhesive is more easily attachable to the artificial eyelash applicator formed of a synthetic resin and the like than the skin of the eyelid when the materials of the artificial eyelash applicator are taken into account. Thus, if the artificial eyelash applicator according to the related art is used, the artificial eyelashes are likely to be separated from the eyelid and attached to the artificial eyelash applicator during separation of the artificial eyelashes from the artificial eyelash applicator even when an adhesive having lower adhesive strength than that of an adhesive applied to the joining portion is applied to the artificial eyelash strands.

DISCLOSURE Technical Problem

One or more embodiments of the present invention are directed to an artificial eyelash applicator to which artificial eyelashes can be easily attached to be available.

One or more embodiments of the present invention are also directed to an artificial eyelash applicator capable of reducing a possibility of separating artificial eyelashes from an eyelid during attaching the artificial eyelashes to the eyelid.

One or more embodiments of the present invention are also directed to an artificial eyelash applicator configured to attach artificial eyelashes to a user's eyelid according to a one-touch method.

Technical Solution

One aspect of the present invention provides an artificial eyelash applicator which attaches, to an eyelid, artificial eyelashes including a plurality of eyelash strands and a joining portion connecting one-side ends of the plurality of eyelash strands, the artificial eyelash applicator including a support plate configured to support the plurality of eyelash strands, and a holding pin configured to push and hold the plurality of eyelash strands on the support plate in a lengthwise direction of the joining portion, and to release the holding of the plurality of eyelash strands as the support plate is elastically deformed.

One end of the holding pin may be integrally formed with one side of one end of the support plate. An engagement portion may be formed at one of another end of the holding pin and another side of the one end of the support plate. An engagement groove may be formed at the other one of the other end of the holding pin and the other side of the one end of the support plate such that the engagement portion is fixed by being caught into the engagement groove. Engagement of the engagement portion and the engagement groove may be released by elastically deforming the support plate to be convex toward a direction of the holding pin.

The support plate may be curved to be convex toward the holding pin in a state in which external force is not applied to at least one end of the support plate at which the holding pin is provided. A compressing portion may be formed in a straight line between the one end of the holding pin and the other end thereof to be flat when external force is not applied thereto, such that the compressing portion is elastically adhered to the support plate when the engagement portion and the engagement groove are engaged with each other.

The support plate may be curved to be convex toward the holding pin from one end of the support plate at which the holding pin is provided to another end thereof. A width of the other end of the support plate opposite to the holding pin may be less than a width of the one end of the support plate at which the holding pin is provided.

The support plate and the holding pin may be integrally formed with each other using polypropylene (PP) to have a flexible property.

The support plate and the holding pin may be each formed of a transparent or semitransparent material.

Advantageous Effects

In an artificial eyelash applicator according to one embodiment of the present invention, artificial eyelashes may be elastically pushed and held using a holding pin in a state in which the artificial eyelashes are stably supported on a support plate. The artificial eyelashes grasped as described above may be easily separated from the artificial eyelash applicator by puckering the support plate to be elastically deformed.

Thus, with use of the artificial eyelash applicator according to the present embodiment, the artificial eyelashes may be easily held on this applicator to have a state in which the artificial eyelashes may be immediately fixed on an eyelid.

Furthermore, in the artificial eyelash applicator according to the present embodiment, the grasped artificial eyelashes may be easily separated from this applicator by simply puckering the support plate according to a one-touch method. Thus, a possibility that the artificial eyelashes will be separated from an eyelid may be effectively reduced during attaching the artificial eyelashes to the eyelid.

In addition, in the artificial eyelash applicator according to the present embodiment, a front surface of a support portion is inwardly concave toward an inner side of the support plate so as to correspond to the shape of an eyelid which is outwardly convex in a forward direction, and the support portion is curved to be convex upwardly to match an average curvature of eyelids. Thus, the artificial eyelashes supported by the support portion may be naturally adjusted to match the shape of a user's eyelid. Accordingly, when the artificial eyelashes supported by the support portion are placed on the eyelid, the artificial eyelashes may match the shape of the eyelid and thus be directly and exactly attached to the eyelid.

Effects of the present invention are not limited to those described here, and other effects which are not described here will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from the appended claims.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating structures of general artificial eyelashes and an artificial eyelash applicator according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a structure of an artificial eyelash applicator according to one embodiment of the present invention, in a state in which an engagement groove of a holding pin is separated from a support plate.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a structure of an artificial eyelash applicator according to one embodiment of the present invention, in a state in which a holding pin is fixed as an engagement groove of the holding pin is caught by a support plate, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a state in which the engagement groove of the holding pin is separated from the support plate in the state of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a plan view illustrating a structure of an artificial eyelash applicator according to one embodiment of the present invention, in a state in which artificial eyelashes are grasped between a support plate and a holding pin.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the state of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a plan view illustrating a state in which a joining portion of the artificial eyelashes is attached to a user's eyelid by moving the artificial eyelash applicator having the state of FIG. 5 to the user's eye.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state in which an engagement groove of the holding pin is separated from the support plate in the state of FIG. 7.

MODES OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. These embodiments are provided so that the technical idea of the present invention may be completely delivered to those of ordinary skill in the art. The present invention is not limited to the embodiments set forth herein and can be implemented in various forms. In the drawings, elements that are not related to describing these embodiments are not illustrated to clarify the present invention, and the sizes of elements may be exaggerated to help understanding of the invention.

An artificial eyelash applicator 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention is provided to store artificial eyelashes 1 such that the artificial eyelashes 1 may be directly attached to an eyelid or is provided to be used to attach the artificial eyelashes 1 to an eyelid. Here, similar to general artificial eyelashes, the artificial eyelashes 1 may include a plurality of eyelash strands 1 a, and a joining portion 1 b connecting one-side ends of the plurality of eyelash strands 1 a to each other. The plurality of eyelash strands 1 a may be prepared using artificial fur. FIG. 1 illustrates the structure of the artificial eyelashes 1 which are general artificial eyelashes.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 6, the artificial eyelash applicator 10 includes a support plate 20 configured to support the plurality of eyelash strands 1 a of the artificial eyelashes 1, and a holding pin 30 configured to push and hold the plurality of eyelash strands 1 a on the support plate 20 in a lengthwise direction of the joining portion 1 b.

The support plate 20 may be provided in the form of a thin plate having a roughly quadrangle shape such that the plurality of eyelash strands 1 a of the artificial eyelashes 1 are placed and supported on an upper surface of one end thereof.

One end portion of a front side of the support plate 20 in which the plurality of eyelash strands 1 a are supported on an upper surface thereof may form a support portion 21.

A front surface of the support portion 21 may be inwardly concave toward an inner side of the support plate 20 to correspond to the shape of an eyelid which is outwardly convex.

The joining portion 1 b of the artificial eyelashes 1 with the plurality of eyelash strands 1 a supported by the upper surface of the support portion 21 is positioned in front of the support plate 20.

One end of the holding pin 30 may be integrally coupled to one side of the support portion 21 of the support plate 20, and another end thereof may be provided to be engaged with another side of the support portion 21 of the support plate 20 to be attachable to or detachable from the other side of the support portion 21. To this end, an engagement groove 31 a may be formed in the other end of the holding pin 30, and an engagement portion 22 may be provided in the other side of the support portion 21 of the support plate 20 corresponding to the engagement groove 31 a such that it is fixed by being engaged with the engagement groove 31 a.

Furthermore, a compressing portion 32 may be provided between the one end and the other end of the holding pin 30, such when the engagement groove 31 a is fixed by being caught by the engagement portion 22, the compressing portion 32 is adhered onto the support plate 20 to push and hold the plurality of eyelash strands 1 a on the upper surface of the support portion 21 of the support plate 20 to be adhered to the upper surface of the support portion 21.

Thus, the artificial eyelashes 1 supported on the support portion 21 of the support plate 20 may be safely held by the artificial eyelash applicator 10 in a state in which the plurality of eyelash strands 1 a are elastically compressed between the compressing portion 32 of the holding pin 30 and the upper surface of the support portion 21.

When the plurality of eyelash strands 1 a of the artificial eyelashes 1 are grasped between the support plate 20 and the holding pin 30, the support plate 20 and the holding pin 30 may be each formed of a transparent material or a semi-transparent material so that a user may easily check whether the plurality of eyelash strands 1 a are grasped by an appropriate length with the user's eyes.

An engagement structure of the engagement portion 22 and the engagement groove 31 a may be immediately released when the support plate 20 is elastically deformed. Thus, the artificial eyelashes 1 grasped between the support plate 20 and the holding pin 30 may be easily separated from the artificial eyelash applicator 10 as a user elastically deforms the support plate 20.

The support plate 20 and the holding pin 30 may be integrally formed with each other using polypropylene (PP) to have a flexible property, so that the support plate 20 may be smoothly elastically deformed and the compressing portion 32 of the holding pin 30 may be easily elastically adhered to the support plate 20.

When it is considered that the holding pin 30 is positioned at an upper portion of the support portion 21 which is one end of the support plate 20, the artificial eyelash applicator 10 may be provided such that engagement of the engagement portion 22 and the engagement groove 31 a is released in a state in which the support plate 20 is elastically deformed to be convex upwardly toward the holding pin 30.

At least the support portion 21 which is one end of the support plate 20 corresponding to the position of the holding pin 30 may be curved to be convex upwardly toward the holding pin 30 when external force is not applied thereto, so that the support plate 20 may be smoothly elastically deformed to release the engagement of the engagement portion 22 and the engagement groove 31 a.

In the present embodiment, the support plate 20 is curved to be convex upwardly toward the holding pin 30 from one end to another end thereof between opposite sides of the support plate 20 when external force is not applied thereto.

Thus, the artificial eyelashes 1 may be easily separated from the artificial eyelash applicator 10 having the above structure when a user simply puckers an end portion of the support plate 20 opposite to the holding pin 30 to be more convex upwardly in a state in which the artificial eyelashes 1 are held.

A curvature of the support portion 21 may be the same as an average curvature of eyelids. The artificial eyelashes 1 supported by the support portion 21 are naturally adjusted to match the shape of a user's eyelid due to the structure of the support plate 20 in which the front surface of the support portion 21 is concave toward the inner side of the support plate 20 to correspond to the shape of an eyelid which is convex outwardly in a front direction and the support portion 21 is curved to be convex upwardly to match the average curvature of eyelids. Thus, when the artificial eyelashes 1 supported by the support portion 21 are placed on an eyelid, the artificial eyelashes 1 may be directly and exactly attached to the eyelid in a state in which the shape of the artificial eyelashes 1 matches the shape of the eyelid.

A user may easily inwardly pucker the end portion of the support plate 20 opposite to the holding pin 30 while grasping opposite sides of the end portion to not interfere with separation of the holding pin 30 during separating the artificial eyelashes 1 grasped by the artificial eyelash applicator 10 from the artificial eyelash applicator 10. The end portion of the support plate 20 opposite the support portion 21 may form a manipulation portion 23. In this case, in the support plate 20, a width of the manipulation portion 23 which is grasped with a user's hand may be less than that of the support portion 21 which is substantially the same in length as the artificial eyelashes 1 so that the user may easily pucker the manipulation portion 23 inwardly by grasping opposite sides of the manipulation portion 23.

In the holding pin 30, one side of the compressing portion 32 having the engagement groove 31 a forms a holding portion 31, and another side thereof forms a coupling portion 33 integrally coupled to the support plate 20. The engagement groove 31 a may be provided in an inner surface of the holding portion 31 extending to cover one side of the support portion 21.

The compressing portion 32 may be maintained in a flat form almost similar to a straight line when external force is not applied thereto, so that it may be elastically adhered to the support portion 21 of the support plate 20 in a state in which the engagement portion 22 is fixed by being caught into the engagement groove 31 a. The holding portion 31 and the coupling portion 33 at opposite sides of the compressing portion 32 may be spaced apart from each other toward the upper portion of the support portion 21 in a state in which the compressing portion 32 is adhered to the support portion 21.

As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 4, when the engagement of the engagement groove 31 a and the engagement portion 22 is released, the coupling portion 33 makes the holding pin 30 tilt upwardly toward a side opposite to the coupling portion 33 so that the support plate 20 and the holding pin 30 may be rapidly separated from each other to be spaced apart from each other. Thus, the gasped artificial eyelashes 1 may be more immediately separated from the artificial eyelash applicator 10.

In the structure of the artificial eyelash applicator 10 described above, the positions of the engagement groove 31 a and the engagement portion 22 may be switched to each other. The engagement structure of the holding pin 30 and the support plate 20 may be replaced with various engagement structures such as a snap fastener or a hook including female and male parts, provided that the holding pin 30 and the support plate 20 are disengaged from each other as the support plate 20 is elastically deformed.

Next, a process of attaching the artificial eyelashes 1 using the artificial eyelash applicator 10 having the above structure will be described below.

As illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, the artificial eyelash applicator 10 with the artificial eyelashes 1 grasped between the support plate 20 and the holding pin 30 may be accommodated in a portable storage box (not shown) or the like in ordinary times.

In this state, an adhesive may be applied to the joining portion 1 b of the artificial eyelashes 1 so that the artificial eyelashes 1 may be attached to an eyelid. The adhesive may be applied to the joining portion 1 b before the artificial eyelashes 1 is held on the artificial eyelash applicator 10.

One or more artificial eyelash applicators 10 in the above state may be accommodated in a storage box (not shown) according to the size of the storage box.

In order to wear the artificial eyelashes 1, a user may pull out the artificial eyelash applicator 10 from the storage box and place it around her eye while grasping the manipulation portion 23. In this case, the user may grasp opposite sides of the manipulation portion 23 with her thumb f1 and index finger f2 without applying force thereto so that the manipulation portion 23 may not be puckered.

Then, as illustrated in FIG. 7, the user places the artificial eyelash applicator 10 around the user's eye and adheres the joining portion 1 b of the artificial eyelashes 1 to an eyelid 2 adjacent to the user's lash line. Thus, the joining portion 1 b is attached to the eyelid 2 due to the adhesive strength of the adhesive applied to the joining portion 1 b.

In this state, as illustrated in FIG. 8, the user inwardly puckers the opposite sides of the manipulation portion 23 by applying force thereto with her thumb f1 and index finger f2 such that the support plate 20 becomes more convex upwardly. Thus, as the support portion 21 is elastically deformed to be convex, the engagement of the engagement groove 31 a and the engagement portion 22 is released and thus the artificial eyelashes 1 are in a state to be separated from the support plate 20 and the holding pin 30. Thus, in this state, when the artificial eyelash applicator 10 is moved from the user's face in the forward direction, the artificial eyelash applicator 10 is removed from the artificial eyelashes 1, thereby making the artificial eyelashes 1 safely attached to the user's eyelid 2.

In order to stop wearing of the artificial eyelashes 1 in this state, the user may remove the artificial eyelashes 1 from the eyelid 2, place the artificial eyelashes 1 between the support plate 20 and the holding pin 30 to be elastically grasped therebetween such that the artificial eyelashes 1 may be immediately used when necessary, and then store the artificial eyelash applicator 10 in this state again in the storage box.

As described above, in the artificial eyelash applicator 10 according to the present embodiment, the artificial eyelashes 1 may be elastically pushed and held using the holding pin 30 while being stably supported on the support plate 20. The artificial eyelashes 1 in this state may be easily separated from the artificial eyelash applicator 10 by simply puckering the support plate 20 to be elastically deformed.

Accordingly, with use of the artificial eyelash applicator 10 according to the present embodiment, the artificial eyelashes 1 may be easily stored in a state in which they may be immediately fixed on the eyelid 2 without a separate adhesive.

Furthermore, the grasped artificial eyelashes 1 may be easily separated from the artificial eyelash applicator 10 according to the present embodiment by simply puckering the support plate 20 according to a one-touch method. Thus, a possibility that the grasped artificial eyelashes 1 will be separated from the eyelid 2 during attaching the grasped artificial eyelashes 1 to the eyelid 2 may be effectively decreased.

In the present disclosure, exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and may be embodied in many different forms by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the technical idea of the invention described in the following claims. 

1. An artificial eyelash applicator which attaches, to an eyelid, artificial eyelashes including a plurality of eyelash strands and a joining portion connecting one-side ends of the plurality of eyelash strands, the artificial eyelash applicator comprising: a support plate configured to support the plurality of eyelash strands; and a holding pin configured to push and hold the plurality of eyelash strands on the support plate in a lengthwise direction of the joining portion, and to release the holding of the plurality of eyelash strands as the support plate is elastically deformed.
 2. The artificial eyelash applicator of claim 1, wherein one end of the holding pin is integrally formed with one side of one end of the support plate, an engagement portion is formed at one of another end of the holding pin and another side of the one end of the support plate, and an engagement groove is formed at the other one of the other end of the holding pin and the other side of the one end of the support plate such that the engagement portion is fixed by being caught into the engagement groove, wherein engagement of the engagement portion and the engagement groove is released by elastically deforming the support plate to be convex toward a direction of the holding pin.
 3. The artificial eyelash applicator of claim 2, wherein the support plate is curved to be convex toward the holding pin in a state in which external force is not applied to at least one end of the support plate at which the holding pin is provided, and a compressing portion is formed in a straight line between the one end of the holding pin and the other end thereof to be flat when external force is not applied thereto, such that the compressing portion is elastically adhered to the support plate when the engagement portion and the engagement groove are engaged with each other.
 4. The artificial eyelash applicator of claim 3, wherein the support plate is curved to be convex toward the holding pin from one end of the support plate at which the holding pin is provided to another end thereof, and a width of the other end of the support plate opposite to the holding pin is less than a width of the one end of the support plate at which the holding pin is provided.
 5. The artificial eyelash applicator of claim 1, wherein the support plate and the holding pin are integrally formed with each other using polypropylene (PP) to have a flexible property.
 6. The artificial eyelash applicator of claim 1, wherein the support plate and the holding pin are each formed of a transparent or semitransparent material. 